The story of the hour on 24 is, still Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) being exposed to the biological weapon Starkwood is in possession of. Last Monday we saw, in real time (but that’s a pun), the uncertainty about his future slowly sink in, him being quarantined by the folks at the CDC, him wanting to join the operation but being refused because he’s basically patient zero, us wondering how the writers intend to get him out of here.

Now here’s a little reminder: Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert) is returning to 24 this year. We already know a few things about her return, which is slated to happen in the middle of the month: she’s apparently not returning with season 5 squeeze Barry Landes (C. Thomas Howell), but she’s returning with a kid. Earlier in the season it could’ve been just another reunion, with almost no plausible reason why—remember that Jack wanted her far away after the CTU was attacked in season 5, but why should we look for something believable?—but now, with Jack being infected, the reunion takes on a whole different meaning.

Sutherland was asked about this at one point, and he was willing to spill a few details about Cuthbert’s return. “Something has happened to Jack”—yes, we already know this—“and it’s he who asks for her,” he said. “Normally it’s the other away around.”

Sutherland also promises that the reunion between father and daughter could be very emotional. “[It’s] very human and real,” he said. “[It’s] a part of the show I’m excited for the audience to see.”

While it’s quite obvious that Jack’s exposure to that biological something will come into play in the next few hours, well, I wouldn’t expect him to be the one buckling down under pressure. Allow me to speculate—the final third of the series will show a side of Jack we’ve never seen in a long, long time. Will things get better between him and Kim? Will he die? What the heck will happen? As he’s stuck in headquarters and with Starkwood under siege, well, that’s for next week—Monday from 9pm on Fox.